Sunday, September 28, 2014

Project #8 Book Trailer


The Hobbit Book Trailer

                                                  Link to youtube page: Book Trailer

Project #6 C4K Month September

Mohammed
Mohammed's Blog

My first student was a child by the name of Mohammed. He is 13 and currently an 8th grade student in Ms.Clarke's class in New Zealand. He shares many of the same interests as I do and seems to know more about how blogs work as well. He shares a post containing a presentation of the many sports of his country including "octopush", a sport I never knew existed.

Two Octopush Players Underwater
Link to Octopush: Octopush
Nathaniel
Nathaniel's Blog

My second student I met was Nathaniel who is a 4th grade student in Mrs. Timm's class. He developed a post where the assignment was to create their own personal invention. It was very entertaining that he developed a "bacon corndog" as his invention detailing the ingredients as well as the overall taste of it. His grammar could be improved a bit, however I understand that this is a 4th grade class and I am so used to seeing college quality diction.

Basket of many corn dogs
Link to image: Corn Dogs
Emma
Emma's Blog

My final student is Emma who is a 5th grade student in Mrs. Greer's class in Massachusetts. She made her post regarding a book that she had read about the underground railroad. It surprised me how much knowledge a 5th grade student had on the subject as well as others like the Titanic or the 9/11 incident. I am astonished also by how these kids can grasp the use of this technology so well.

Logo of the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom
Link to Image: Underground Railroad



Blog Post #6

Education written on chalkboard with mouse pointer about to click on it
Link to image: proctorfree.com

Project Based Learning Part 1

1. After watching these videos, I understood more of what a "good" project means from the examples Anthony gave and the feedback that those projects received from his students as well as their parents. Anthony himself stated the major key points of a project in his videos beginning with having an authentic audience that motivates the students to do their very best and perhaps even push further beyond the goals than anticipated. Second, Anthony spoke of the student's interests and how in his projects students were much more involved and provided more input when the project considered subjects relevant to the students. Anthony also included that the project should show how the assignment is related to the community and the actual real world relevance and the students are learning just "burp back" information. As an educator, I feel that these concepts of an interesting project for students is detrimental and I myself know that I will be using these tools to develop young minds with knowledge that will help them become critical thinkers. 


2. Honestly before this class I had never heard of iCurio, but after learning that it is an educational multimedia search engine i will be most likely using it all the time. The program is very organized and is actually a key tool in the improvement of student organization and is thorough in preparing them for the adulthood with iCurio's virtual organization. Also, the application of this search engine is very useful considering the time restraints the modern classroom entails with only 50 minute class intervals and breaks for lunch throughout the day. 


3. Discovery Education is a wonderful tool that can be used for finding visuals for a certain academic topic. Whether it be from science, math, of social studies their are visuals present to educate the child more effectively than just reading it. Students, speaking from my point of view as a current student, are more likely to retain knowledge from videos about the subject just as Anthony has stated in his video. 


4. After watching this video, I myself feel more comfortable going into the realm of education when listening to these various tips for beginning educators. I realize that as teachers we are also constant learners alongside our students and though it is hard work it will be fun and rewarding in the end. Also, an excellent tool for educating is being flexible and creative in your own right and anticipating when things go bad but also fixing the situation to benefit yourself as well. Constant reflection is also a key factor in reviewing what was done and how to improve the project better or change it entirely to benefit the students.


5. By teaching students to use technology instead of teaching them about the technology, the students are more motivated to learn the subject at hand. Children are more adept at technology than ever before and will continue to surprise with their aptitude for it. By teaching the students to use technology that they already know and understand to find information, they do not necessarily feel bored and are show more interest in the class. It is evident that a classroom that doesn't use technology will be left behind academically.


6. I learned in this video from Anthony's own input the key elements of the standard lesson. To begin with, one must find out how the lesson is incorporated into the year, or the curriculum for that year. Then find out how to prepare the unit for the class by devising a way to reach an outcome at the end of the semester by learning other tools beforehand. After unit comes how to prepare that unit into various weeks that progress to the aforementioned goal. And lastly, consider that daily assignments and activities and how to progress the next day in a smooth and cohesive transition. 





Sunday, September 21, 2014

Project 7

My Sentence Is...

My Passion Is...

Blog Post #5 My PLN part #1

When making my PLN, I have decided to search various websites for educators who will be giving information to my particular field of study, which is Language Arts, and also providing ideas on education skills as well. I have added such teachers such as Vicki Davis who uses social media in her classroom as well as provides great insight in educating students on using this technology on their own. Also I have found an chat channel on twitter that begins every Monday at 7 which concerns only Language Arts and resources that relate to better educating students.

Project #3: Project Based Learning Presentation

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Project #15

1.Dogpile.com
This is a fairly clean search engine, my meaning that the homepage isn't covered in an abundance of ads and other distractions. It hosts many categories over the subject one is searching for such as websites, images, and news. One the first page on the subject it shows the definition of what you are looking for as well as an area where you can find more information about it.
2. Ask.com
A more simple search engine and groups more relevant subject matter on the first page. Allows for more quick and ready information on the topic other than wading through multiple pages until finding the source that you need.
3. Duckduckgo.com
The search engine instantly provides information about the subject with definitions and meanings. The homepage has little to no ads or spam unlike other popular search engines. Also, the information is all on one scrollable page and much more relevant to the topic by providing government and viable websites.
4. Wolframalpha.com
This search engine is a quick answer engine that is developed by Wolfram Research. Unlike other quick answer search engines which include user based answers, this engine uses calculable data such as measurements and answers to equations. It also provides accurate answers from reliable sources rather than listing multiple pages relevant to the subject.
5. Alltop.com
Alltop is known to be the oldest blog search engine on the net. It is primarily used to search for blogs related to a topic or subject being searched. Not only will it bring up blogs where the information is being discussed but also blogs that specialize in only that subject; such as when on is searching for education blogs it will bring up blogs that are written for education subjects and not just mentioning them.
6. Ohloh.net
This engine is primarily used to find code sources. according to the website it can process over 21 billion different types of code at a single time as well as in different languages and projects. I can see this showing good promise in EDM310 when looking for code sources to use in my own blogs.
7. Academicinfo.net
I have personally used this website multiple times for my college papers in the past. It is a wonderful search engine to use in which to gather wonderful sources that are appropriately cited as well. It encompasses a vast database from various online schools and libraries and is very accurate in finding relevant sources to ones topic.
8. Iseek.com
This website I also found to be of great importance to education majors. One needs to simply ask a question in the search bar and the engine provides a multitude of relevant sources to answer it. All of these sources are of course related in an educational sense and one doesn't even need to provide a topic in the form of a question for it to be answered either. I would definitely see myself using this to provide background to the subjects I will be teaching future students as well as answering problems encountered in the classroom.

Blog Post #4

What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?

When answering the question of what educators need to know about effectively asking questions, I found it helpful to learn more about how the students react to the questions being asked. When I was a student in highschool, there were times when I would never ask or answer a question. The anxiety of being called on or thinking that I was crippled my confidence in the classroom, even when I knew the answer to the question. I sooner realized after entering a college classroom that it wasn't my fault necessarily, but more so the questions that the teachers asked.

After reading the article Asking Questions to Improve Learning, I noticed that my teachers would often use "leading" questions which are questions that already have the answer to them. And if they weren't using leading questions, the teachers would most likely end with "Are there any questions?" basically telling use we better have a full grasp of the subject because we will be learning new subjects immediately. Not until college did my instructors ever ask a question to provoke the class into critically thinking. Critical thinking allows the instructor to assure that the students are properly digesting the information and are able to use it effectively. Below is a graph by Benjamin Bloom implementing his six cognitive process that I found quite informative. It allows the combination of lower order thinking with that of more critical higher order thinking. As an educator I can see this graph being beneficial in the classroom in designating when to ask certain questions and what questions to ask as well.

Asking Questions to Improve Learning

Saturday, September 6, 2014

BLog Post #3

1. What is Peer Editing?
2. Peer Edit with Perfection Tutorial
3. Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes

1 and 2. After watching the the youtube video "What is Peer Editing", I have a more thorough understanding of exactly what it means to give a good review. I never really understood how to exactly start a a comment to review someones work, but after learning to start with a compliment it allows for a more comfortable opening in the conversation. Also, the act of including a suggestion to another's work allows for a more casual and less critical way to improve one's work. The tutorial was most helpful as well by giving an example of what giving a constructive review.

3. This youtube video was quite entertaining. Not only did it provide some social stereotypes that I myself found frequently in my classrooms, but it did so in a comical and easy to understand method. The children in the video gave very accurate portrayals and also at the same time provided tips on how not to review someones work.
Source: Photo From Peer Edit with Perfection Tutorial